Blowing out a breath, I center myself and search the cavern space for the girls.
At first, nothing happens.
My perception is filled with the scent of cold, wet dirt and rocks. Then, something shifts—
Flames erupt in my inner eye and I begin to catch snippets of a conversation elsewhere in the cavern…
“Finally got the word. We make the exchange at 2:00am,” a man says.
I can’t see his face, but he has long reddish hair in the light of the small fire. On the floor, the girls huddle together, trying to make themselves as small as possible. Their clothes are torn and dirty—and an air of abuse already lingers around them.
“Why so fucking late?” another man says, kicking at the dirt. “I ain’t no damn babysitter.”
Anger spikes in the first man, “I’m not paid to ask questions—and neither are you. We’re just damn lucky we were reassigned here instead of being caught by the police.”
“Guess none of these people ever heard of sleep. So, where’s the damn drop happening? We gonna have to meet him, I suppose?”
“Yeah, as if he’s gonna make his way through this labyrinth,” the first man snorts. “Moron. Of course we’re gonna meet him. We’ll start making our way to the entrance at midnight. The tourists should all be gone by then and we can do what we need to do without prying eyes. Plus, we can dump ‘em when we have our money and get on our way.”
“Yeah, that’ll be good,” the other man says. “Looking forward to being done with this one. They’ve been more trouble than they’re worth if you ask me.”
“No shit. It went sideways from the minute we got mixed up with with that little girl back in the States. It’ll be nice to finally be rid of this lot. Gonna lay low for a while until it all blows over.”
One of the girls on the floor whimpers, fighting back tears.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” the first man snarls, walking over to them.
Instinctively, the girls cower together.
“I said, what’s wrong with you?” he repeats, kicking the girl closest to him.
The girls cry out, jarred from the contact. They bow their heads, refusing to look up at their captors.
“Babies,” the guy mutters, walking away. “Next one of you who cries is gonna get something worth crying about. Ya hear?”
Again, the girls huddle in to the point of practically being on top of one another—almost as if they could vanish if they just merged into one person.
Suddenly, the vision of the girls and men shifts—dragging me from their location as I desperately try to stay with them.
I float through the cavern tunnels, hovering over an open space with standing water—then through another tunnel with etchings in the stone face. As I try to lean into it and get a better view, images of the symbol from Blake’s dreams and drawings juxtapose themselves over and over in my mind—blocking me somehow from seeing anything else.
“Diana—Diana, oh God, are you okay?”
My eyes roll, as I try to ground myself to the here and now, and my own body. Without warning, everything goes limp and I slump forward. Blake’s arms wrap around me before I can hit the ground.
“What in the hell was all that? You—you were glowing. Like, on your own, bright purple—glowing. And your eyes—they were—I just—I can’t—” Blake’s words drift off, but I can’t find a way to my voice just yet.
The visions—two separate, but clearly equally important visions—have depleted my body.
I should have brought chocolate, or something to eat in case something liked this happened.
Stupid.
Blake pulls me in close, his broad chest becoming my platform for stability and relief. Everything around me is spinning and I know if I’m not careful, I’ll lose consciousness. Who knows how long it would be before I awoke—and neither of us can afford that kind of detour.
I close my eyes, focusing on the sound of his heartbeat as it thumps away. It’s my metronome to stay here and now.
His left hand slides up beneath my hair, resting on my neck. The warmth of his palm radiates through me, making me shiver.
“I’m sorry, Diana,” he says, his voice low and husky. “I still can’t believe what I saw. I mean, I know I saw it—and I know something was clearly going on with you. But I still—how do you explain something like this?”
Even if I wanted to—I couldn’t explain what happens to me. I’ve never experienced it from the other side when the stronger energies take over. I just know what it does to me afterwards.
Blake must sense how much this has taken out of me, because he stops talking and instead shifts to a more comfortable position and simply holds me. Nothing in this world—and I mean that literally—nothing has felt so good as being in his arms.
After a few minutes, the world stops spinning, and my head begins to feel more centered. Unfortunately, my ass is falling asleep. I shift slightly—just to release the cramp.
“How are you doing now?” Blake asks.
I don’t open my eyes but remain firmly in place—a permanent fixture on Blake’s chest for the time being.
“A little better, thanks,” I whisper, taking a deep breath through my nose.
“I didn’t know this took such a toll on you. It didn’t seem like such a big deal before—”
“It’s okay, Blake. It’s not always like this. Just—sometimes it’s more…powerful than others.”
“You’re not kidding.”
“Besides, you wouldn’t be the first to think I was spewing BS,” I say, taking slow, deliberate breaths.
“After seeing you glowing—I feel like a complete ass. I mean, holy shit, that was intense. Why did you feel like you needed to prove anything to me when you clearly have something crazy unique going on? You should be studied at MIT.”
I swallow hard, trying to fight the feelings snaking their way around my insides.
“Lots of reasons,” I finally say. “It was partly for the sake of the girls. Blake—they’re alive, by the way. They’re all still together and alive. They’re planning on
